Gianmaria Bruni joins Porsche Works Driver Lineup

The talented Gianmaria Bruni has called time on his 11-year career with Maranello and signed to race with Porsche for the second half of the 2017 season and beyond.

I hadn’t been keeping tabs on works drivers since the shakeup before normal Ferdinand service was interrupted by some French lawyers and assumed Dr Walliser was done with his reshuffle, but, at the end of last year, John Dagys at Sportscar 365 had suggested that Bruni was as good as strapped in a Porsche seat.

Walliser apparently mentioned to Dagys in December how well Bruni would fit within Porsche’s GTE-Pro squad. The story on Sportscar 365 is that Ferrari finally agreed to release Bruni from his contract last week, but only if he would not be racing against his former team – AF Corse – in WEC this year. Porsche has therefore confirmed him on an IMSA deal for the second part of 2017, following an introductory testing programme in June.

What happens after that could be very exciting for Bruni, who is still only 35 but has been super successful through a glittering GT racing career to date, with three Le Mans wins to his credit, as well as two GTE-Pro titles and more wins at Sebring and Spa.

“We’re delighted to welcome Gianmaria Bruni, one of the world’s top GT pilots, into our squad,” said Dr. Walliser. “He fits perfectly into our strong circle of works drivers and will join us for the second half of the season.”

This is exciting news for the Porsche driver lineup: Forza Weissach, indeed.